I grew up in Homewood, Illinois in the south suburbs of Chicago during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  Naturally this means I grew up an Illinois Central fan.  However, due to the requirement the railroads from the east coast and south have to avoid Lake Michigan as they enter Chicago, the southeast suburbs like Homewood are in an area very thick with railroads; within easy bicycle riding distance was both the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal (and their tenant, the Milwaukee Road) and the Chicago & Eastern Illinois—which, by the time I got there, was already the MoPac.  The B&OCT line had little traffic and to a kid was not of much interest (though I sure regret not photographing the Milwaukee trains that occasionally turned up on it), but the MoPac hummed with traffic, and thus drew a lot of my attention and actually still does under current owner UP.As in that era, the line between Chicago and Woodland Junction (about 83 miles of railroad) is still shared—currently by MoPac successor Union Pacific and Louisville & Nashville successor CSX.  At present at a guess I’d say the line sees perhaps 20 trains a day; traffic has lessened since UP opened its new Global 4 complex on its Alton Route line. Anyway, while not my hometown railroad like the IC, the MoPac was a very near neighbor and as such drew my interest, which I still pursue.

Originally posted by Charlie Duckworth, 11 April, 2015